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Poole: Cal football coach Jeff Tedford might have found the antidote to quarterback Zach Maynard's difficulties

By Monte PooleBay Area News Group columnist

Posted:
11/05/2011 09:36:33 PM PDT

Updated:
11/06/2011 04:41:59 AM PST

On a soggy evening by the bay, before a semi-engaged audience, Jeff Tedford downsized his notoriously dense and voluminous playbook.

The Cal coach might have discovered, in the process, a useful formula.

With their season going in circles and their bowl prospects questionable, Tedford and the Golden Bears took a simpler approach to offense. They relied mostly on handoffs, after which they would run the ball.

They did this repeatedly, because it kept working.

In riding this fitting game plan to a 30-7 victory over woeful Washington State in front of 35,506 brave and hardy souls Saturday at AT&T Park, Tedford might have found a solution to his most vexing problem.

Maybe, just maybe, his running game can provide an alternative, if not the antidote, to inconsistent play from quarterback Zach Maynard.

"We were trying to mix it up, not be too dependent on one part of the game," Tedford said after beating a traditional conference team for the first time this season.

If balance were the idea, the Bears failed. Cal (5-4, 2-4 in the Pac-12) threw the ball 20 times and ran it 48 -- by far its greatest offense imbalance in any game this season.

With Cal rushing for a season-high 288 yards, even fullback Will Kapp, son of Joe and usually a blocker, got into the act, taking his only carry 43 yards for a touchdown.

This was not the plan in September, when Cal had aspired to re-establish itself as a top-level Pac-12 program. Tedford during spring practices got a glimpse of Maynard's versatility, visualized the possibilities with gifted wide receivers Keenan Allen and Marvin Jones, and built his offense around the three.

Following the talent almost always makes sense. Then, too, we're riding the crest of a pass-happy trend. As a former quarterback devoted to the art of the position, with an affinity for coaching it, Tedford surely appreciates the forward pass as much as anyone on any level of football.

But as the losses piled up and the offense often hamstrung by erratic passes -- Maynard's four-interception performance Oct. 29 at UCLA was the nadir -- something had to change.

Tedford realized it and acted on it. Maynard, who for most of this season has been asked to create offense, on this night became a custodian.

"I thought he managed the game really well," Tedford said. "He didn't turn the ball over a lot, which was key coming into this game. I thought he played really well."

Maynard did play well, if sporadically. What he did that was infinitely more important was avoid disaster.

That was enough, though, when the offensive line is powering through a defense that had not been awful against the run. The Cougars (3-6, 1-5) may be dreadful, but their rushing defense had been decent if unspectacular.

"Our defensive front and linebackers clearly did not play well," WSU coach Paul Wulff said. "They didn't get off blocks, and they didn't tackle well."

Quite simply, the Cougars were in the wrong place, at the wrong time. They caught a bunch of Bears still stinging from an embarrassing loss to the Bruins and determined to redeem themselves.

"This team and the team we played last week, they're not too far apart, talentwise," concluded Cal defensive end Trevor Guyton. "It shows that when everybody does their job as well as they can, you win games."

Indeed, the most significant difference between the two games was Cal's execution of a more conservative offensive plan. Tedford decreased the demands on his quarterback and asked more of his line and running backs.

Maynard left the game in the third quarter, after taking a bump on the head. He later insisted he was fine, but Tedford turned to backup Allan Bridgford as a precaution.

Not that it mattered, with such light duty for whoever lined up at quarterback.

"It was pretty awesome," left tackle Mitchell Schwartz said. "It's satisfying to get on a team and keep grinding and grinding on them. The coaches kept feeding us the ball, putting it on the offensive line."

It's not the most exciting brand of football, especially when the lack of a star tailback -- e.g. Marshawn Lynch or J.J. Arrington -- forces a rotating crew of runners. But it was enough, with rain falling and fans scattering, to vanquish this opponent, on this night.

And it might be worth a try next week, when Oregon State comes to town with the Bears, despite all their struggles, needing one win to become eligible for a bowl game.